2008 Indy Japan 300
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2008 Indy Japan 300
The 2008 Indy Japan 300 was the third round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season, for drivers who competed in the series in 2007 and teams that had entered for 2008 who were not former Champ Car teams that were in transition. This was because the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach occurred on the same weekend and there was no way of changing dates to avoid the clash when the reunification took place. Originally scheduled for the afternoon of April 19, 2008 at the Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, the race was delayed by 22 hours until the morning of April 20, due to water seeping up onto the track from previous heavy rains. Danica Patrick won the race, becoming the first female winner in the history of top-level American open-wheel racing. Qualifying Due to rain in the Tochigi region, qualifying was cancelled and the field was set by driver points. Thus, the grid was: Race References {{s-end Indy Japan 300 Indy Japan 300 Indy Japan 300 The Indy Japan 300 pres ...
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Indy Japan 300
The Indy Japan 300 presented by Bridgestone was an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race held at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan. The 2008 race marked the historic first ever win for a woman driver in American open wheel racing when Danica Patrick of Andretti-Green Racing took the checkered flag. The first American open-wheel race in Japan was held in 1966 at Fuji Speedway. Jackie Stewart won the Fuji Japan 200, which was held as an exhibition race, and no championship points were awarded. USAC did not return. For a short period in the late 1980s and early 1990s the CART series explored the prospects of holding a race in Japan. Possible locations would be either Suzuka, Fuji, or a street course in another city. The FIA objected, citing conflicts with Formula One and other interests. In addition, rules were put into place requiring that any CART race outside of North America be held on an oval. Despite the objections, in 1991 CART made their first trip across the Pacific Ocea ...
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Dan Wheldon
Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series season, 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 Indianapolis 500, 2005 and 2011 Indianapolis 500, 2011, and was co-winner of the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR). Wheldon began competitive karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to Open-wheel car, open-wheel car racing in the U.S. F2000 National Championship, the Atlantic Championship, Toyota Atlantic Championship and Indy Lights. He began driving in IndyCar with Panther Racing in 2002. The following year, Wheldon moved to AGR, finishing as runner-up in the 2004 IndyCar Series, 2004 championship. He won the drivers' title in 2005 with the record for most victories (including that year's Indianapolis 500) during a season. In the 2006 IndyCar Series, 2006 season, ...
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Ryan Briscoe
Ryan Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America. In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third in the 2009 season, fifth in 2008 and 2010, and sixth in 2011 and 2012. In sports car racing, he has won the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2020 Petit Le Mans, was runner-up at the 2007 American Le Mans Series LMP2 class, and won the 2013 12 Hours of Sebring LMP2 class, the 2008 and 2013 Petit Le Mans LMP2 class, the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona GTLM class, and finished third overall at the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona. Career biography Early career Like many racing drivers, he started his career in karting, first racing in 1993. After winning Australian, North American and Italian championships, he moved to Formula Renault in 2000. He won the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2001 (winning 5 races) and finished 4th running a li ...
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Roth Racing
Roth Racing was a race team owned by Canadian real estate magnate and racecar driver Marty Roth. It competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. 2004-2005 The team was founded in 2004 when Marty Roth purchased the Indy Pro Series equipment of Panther Racing and a new Dallara IndyCar chassis and competed in three Pro Series events and the Indianapolis 500 with himself doing the driving. The team ran a full Pro Series schedule with Roth finishing 8th in points in 2005 as well as the Indy 500 in conjunction with PDM Racing where Roth provided his chassis and funding and PDM provided their Chevrolet engine lease and technical expertise. 2006 Roth sold his Pro Series equipment following the St. Petersburg race in April 2006 to focus on IndyCars and specifically his attempt to qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500. However, the team never managed to hit on a comfortable set-up for the race car and Roth crashed on bump day trying to find the speed necessary to bump PDM Racing ...
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Jay Howard
Jay Howard (born 16 February 1981) is a British professional race car driver who competes in the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. Howard was the 2005 US Formula Ford Zetec champion (now known as the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship) and moved up to the Indy Lights series, where he captured two wins on his way to the 2006 championship for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in his rookie season. He qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 in 2011. Career Howard was born in Basildon, England. Indy Pro Series (2006–07) In 2006, Howard competed in the Indy Pro Series for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, winning the series championship in his rookie season over Jonathan Klein and Wade Cunningham. Howard earned two victories (Nashville and Kentucky) and seven total podium finishes. He made three starts for SpeedWorks at the beginning of the 2007 season, but was inactive for the rest of the year. IndyCar Series (2008) Roth Racing announced on 26 November ...
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Panther Racing
Panther Racing was an American open wheel auto racing team. It was one of the oldest continually operating teams in the IndyCar Series. Four years in a row (2008–2011), the team finished second at the Indianapolis 500. Formation The team was formed in late 1997, to compete in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League (now IndyCar Series), by six owners: open-wheel racing team manager John Barnes, Indianapolis car dealer Gary Pedigo, former radio personality Mike Griffin, television production executive Terry Lingner, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh and Indianapolis director of corporate government affairs Doug Boles. IndyCar Series 1998–2000: Early success with Scott Goodyear For their first season in 1998, the team fielded the #4 Pennzoil G-Force GF01B-Oldsmobile Aurora L47 V8 for Scott Goodyear. The car had an unusual yellow and black paint scheme, as Pennzoil did not use its traditional all-yellow livery in favor of a Sam Bass design as part of changes by the comp ...
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Vítor Meira
Vítor Meira (born March 27, 1977) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He formerly competed in the IndyCar Series and has twice finished second in the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar Series 2002 After participating in an open test for Panther Racing at Texas Motor Speedway in 2002, Meira made his IndyCar debut with Team Menard on August 11, 2002 at Kentucky Speedway. A little over a month later, Vitor won his first career pole at Texas Motor Speedway after just four starts, and finished in third place. 2003 In 2003, Meira ran his first start of the year for Team Menard at the Indianapolis 500, where he finished 12th as a rookie. Meira then ran the next seven races in the #2 Johns Manville powered Dallara Chevrolet, until a practice crash at Kentucky Speedway sidelined him for the next three races. After recovering from his wrist injury he suffered at Kentucky, Vitor ran the final two races of the season. 2004 In 2004, Meira missed the first two races of the season before a race-b ...
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Darren Manning
Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British motor racing driver who has raced in the IRL IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Career history Early career Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, and began his racing career at the age of 10, competing in British and International karting events. In 1992, he took part in the Brands Hatch Formula First Winter Series, finishing second after recording two wins. His SpeedSport team took him in 1993 to race in the Formula Vauxhall championship again recording 2 victories en route to a second-place finish in the championship. He was also a finalist for the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year award. He continued in Formula Vauxhall in 1994 and 1995 and moved up to Formula 3 in 1996 and 1997. Budget constraints meant that he only raced a limited F3 schedule in 1998, but he did achieve two wins including at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix support race. International c ...
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Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitro Rallycross. The team is owned by Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Mini, and Subaru dealer Dennis Reinbold. Off the track, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (DRR) have spent thousands of hours as the national spokesperson & advocate for "Racing for Kids," a national youth charitable foundation. On behalf of "Racing for Kids," DRR has visited more than 20,000 children in over 400 hospitals worldwide and raised nearly $5 million for local children's health initiatives. IndyCar history 2000–2006 Founded in 2000, DRR was one of the few teams that consistently ran the Infiniti engine until they left the series, then switched to Chevrolet and finally to Honda in 2005. When Buhl retired from the cockpit in 2004, he placed Felipe Giaffone in the cockpit, followed by Roger Yasukawa with financial backing from Honda. With Honda backing gone for 2006, some doubted if the team would con ...
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Buddy Rice
Buddy Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing. Career Early years Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Buddy Rice is the son of a former drag racer. Rice's grandfather was from Indianapolis and passed on his interest in racing to Rice's father. Rice saw his first race when he was six years old. He started racing in go-karts when he was 11. Rice played baseball in high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and attracted the attention of college and professional scouts. However, both Rice and his father decided he would pursue a career in racing instead. Rice's professional career began in 1996, when he drove in one U.S. F2000 event; he finished eighth after starting second. He also drove in the Dodge Shelby Pro Series, winning from the pole at Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1997, Rice drove in F2000 for Lynx Racing/DSTP Motorsports, ...
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Rahal Letterman Racing
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former television talk show host David Letterman, and businessman Mike Lanigan. The Team Won the Indianapolis 500 twice in 2004 and 2020 with Buddy Rice and Takuma Sato, The team was established in 1991 as Rahal/Hogan Racing, became Team Rahal in 1996, and was known as Rahal Letterman Racing from May 2004 until December 2010. Throughout the team's history in IMSA with factory partner BMW, the team has run under the name BMW Team RLL. CART IndyCar World Series (1991–2003) Following the 1991 CART season, Bobby Rahal left the Galles-Kraco Racing team. Despite consistent top finishes, Rahal won only two races from 1989 to 1991. Likewise, Danny Sullivan left the Patrick Racing team, following a dismal season with the Alfa R ...
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Ryan Hunter-Reay
Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is a professional American racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. In each accomplishment, Hunter-Reay became the first American to win since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006. Hunter-Reay also won in the defunct Champ Car World Series twice and the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. In addition to his experience in Indy car racing, Hunter-Reay has competed in the Race of Champions, A1 Grand Prix, and various forms of sports car racing (the American Le Mans Series, the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series and the IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship). Hunter-Reay last drove for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. When Hunter-Reay initially joined Andretti for 2010, he was only signed to drive for a partial season. Additional sponsorship was found and Hunter-Reay drove the entire season for Andretti. Hunter-Reay has since won both the Indianapolis 500 and ...
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